Alma, God has not sent you to do what you are not capable of  doing.  Just take what is in your hand and do your best.
............Bessie Lewis, retired pastor (Waycross, Georgia, USA)
............Alma's high school teacher and mentor

Alma Worrell was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1930, the beginning of the Great Depression in the USA.  She is the youngest of seven children.  Her father died when she was two years old, and her family struggled throughout the depression.  With financial help from her brother and part-time work, she attended high school at Emmanuel, a boarding school of the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Franklin Springs, Georgia.

Graduating from Emmanuel at age sixteen, she began working in Greensboro, NC, and married at an early age becoming Alma McKeithan.  She had two sons, and when the children were in public school, she began studies at Guilford College in Greensboro near her home.  She graduated, receiving her degree in English and became certified as a high school English teacher.  Alma began teaching African-American children in 1972 at Dudley High School in Greensboro.

From the time of her graduation from Emmanuel, she was active in her church, serving as Choir Director of a Pentecostal Holiness Church for nineteen years.  Throughout her life's experiences in the church, she felt a call to help those less fortunate and had a particular interest in serving in a needy country, perhaps as a missionary.

In 1974, she became single again, and her sons were grown, one having completed college and the other attending college.  She was in her forties and had never worked abroad or traveled abroad.  She could have settled into the day-to-day life of a public school teacher, but she wanted to answer the call she had felt for years.  She began writing to countries where her teaching abilities might be needed.  She was hired by the Nigerian Ministry of Education, and her work in Nigeria began as a secondary school teacher of English-as-a-foreign-language in August 1974.

Alma was assigned to teach at Government College in Makurdi, which was one of the best boarding schools in Nigeria, but far less than Alma anticipated.  The school had no library, only a few desks, approximately one textbook for every 5 or 10 students, occasional electricity, and the drinking water had to be boiled.  Alma had no teaching aids or resources except the textbook and her personal knowledge.  The climate was tropical.  Heat and bugs were intense.  The house where she was assigned to live was filthy and in bad structural condition.  She was overwhelmed.  Dismayed.  She wept, and wondered if she could survive, but giving up was not an option in her determined mindset.  She came to help needy children, and she intended to stay with the call.  When she wrote to her childhood teacher and mentor, Reverend Bessie Lewis, venting her concerns and requesting prayer, Reverend Lewis gave her this practical guidance, "Alma, God has not sent you to do what you are not capable of  doing.  Just take what is in your hand and do your best."  With this guidance, never to be forgotten or forsaken, Alma began her work to make a difference in the lives of these children.

The school system in Nigeria is based on the British System.  For the first six weeks, Alma taught a Form 5 English class (equivalent to US 12th grade) and realized that the students' understanding of English was far below what she expected for 12th grade students.  She approached her superiors and requested permission to try an experiment.  She wanted to teach English to the same group of students progressing with them from Form 1 (US 8th grade) through Form 5.  She strongly believed that if the students would do well in English, their scores would significantly improve in all subject areas.

A word about the language situation will explain why she believed as she did.  Although English is the official language of Nigeria, it is not the language commonly used by most Nigerian children.  Many speak one or more of the three major tribal languages, Ibo, Hausa, and Yoruba plus one or more of the languages of the 300 ethno linguistic groups of Nigeria.  Many Form 1 students could speak no English.  Whether they would be eligible to continue beyond Form 5 into community college, technical school, or the university depended on their score in the West African School Certificate Examination, which is a national written examination given in English for all subjects near the end of Form 5.

The Ministry of Education granted Alma permission to try her "5-year plan."  This required a commitment of five years.  She taught 185 students in five classes, all boys.  Most boys were much older than children for corresponding grades in the USA.  This was because of the difficulty of raising tuition.  Tuition was 380 naira per year.  A good salary paid only approximately 250 naira per year, and most Nigerians made less.  A whole village would have to pool its resources to send just one child to school.  In the 1970's, US $100 would exchange for 66 naira.  Today, US$100 exchanges for 11,200 naira.  Conditions were bad then, but the people are destitute today.  Approximately, US$10 will now pay a year's tuition.

Alma taught English and more.  She set up a medical clinic, and the students helped her run it, teaching them responsibility.  She taught them to be true to their word and to always do their best.  She taught them health and hygiene.  She taught them to love and care for one another, even children from other tribes.  And, when necessary to keep a child in school when no funds were available from home, she drew from personal savings to provide money.

Alma's memory of the Nigerian children is that they respected her, they were intelligent, and they were well-behaved.  They struggled intensely for an education knowing that they were the fortunate few selected at great expense to their village.  The village depended on them to return with a good education, and the children were much aware of their responsibilities and obligations.

The days passed slowly and with difficulty, but the years passed quickly.  With the students' hard work, Alma's diligence to her personal commitment to do her best with what she had in her hand, and with God's ever present guidance, the 5-year plan was successfully completed.  Within her special class, which she taught from Form 1 through Form 5, 75 percent passed English and 98 percent passed all other subjects.  In prior years at the Government College in Makurdi, of those taking the West African Exam the highest percent to pass English was only 15 percent, and the highest percent to pass all other subjects was only 49 percent.  

In recognition of her success as a teacher, the Ministry of Education appointed Alma to be principal of a large boarding school in Itobi, a less developed area 130 miles west of Makurdi.  At this school, there were approximately 800 students, and there was no electricity and no drinking water, except water carried from the Niger River in containers by the students.  Her teaching staff included 50 Moslem men, who at first were reluctant to accept this middle-aged white woman from North Carolina as their principal.  

Again, Alma found the conditions challenging and the level of responsibility enormous.  Shortly after arrival in Itobi, she sought counsel with the village chief, Chief Oyibo.  Through an interpreter, she explained that she was a lowly woman who came to his village solely to teach the children.  She was not there to create problems and needed his wisdom and support in order to accomplish her work.  Chief Oyibo assured Alma he would cooperate and help, and he was true to his word.

There were Italian and German contractors in the area.  Alma sought their help.  The Italians set up a tank storage system for water and installed a generator sufficient to provide electricity about three hours per day.  The Germans repaired her home and made it livable.

Life was difficult, but the people in the area from a wide variety of religious beliefs, cultures, education, and economic status responded to Alma's requests for assistance.  Her work as principal proceeded well.  The books balanced for the first time ever.  She set up an Employees Credit Union, the first ever in that part of the world.  Most importantly, the children received an education.

Alma's work as principal continued until failing heath made it necessary for her to resign the post and return home to North Carolina.  Less than a year after returning home, Alma met Dr. Robert Cockrell, an engineer, who shares and supports her love and commitment to helping less fortunate individuals.  Her work continues, and at any age and state of health she will respond to God's call to do her best with what she has in her hand.

Throughout the years of Alma's work at Makurdi and Itobi, she was assisted by her gentle and wise steward, Aloysius Nwankwo from Ehume.  Without him, her survival would have been difficult, perhaps unlikely.  Please read about him by clicking Aloysius Nwankwo.